Alex Donaldson from VG247 was lucky enough to speak with Kingdom Hearts III Director Tetsuya Nomura recently about the development of the game.
Nomura first reaffirms his approach to this business, that he has not changed the way he develops games since the very first Kingdom Hearts. Therefore, his directing style for Kingdom Hearts III is the same style as it was over 16 years ago! He then touches on the story and how fans believe each game complicates the plot further:
“I have not really considered the kinds of complicated balancing issues that everyone imagines, and the game stories are simply the result of me making what I wanted to make freely.”
When pressed about the restrictions that Disney, and now Pixar, would put into place with the adaptions of their films into playable worlds, Nomura doesn't feel that it is all that restricting, but rather working within the boundaries set by the corporation lets them produce a certain balance that makes the series work.
Aside from the ReMIX's, the Kingdom Hearts series has predominantly skipped the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U generations. Nomura admits he hasn't given much though to what Kingdom Hearts III would have been like if the game has launched years ago in a different gaming generation, but notes that the team is working hard so that players who haven't played those collections, or have forgotten a lot of the story, can get up to speed in the game:
“There aren’t many examples in gaming, but I think that there are cases of film and TV series where viewers can take an interest part way through,” Nomura says.
“We have included several elements in Kingdom Hearts 3 to explain the story and get newcomers up to speed the minimum required level of understanding, including a series of videos to explain the story so far at the start of the game. I would be delighted if people who played Kingdom Hearts 3 took an interest in the series overall and went back to play the previous games as well.”
Of course, being a game made for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One hardware, the series is now achieving a higher level of detail than ever before. Gamers who have gone hands-on with Kingdom Hearts III, including a number of us at KHInsider, are amazed at the grand scale of the worlds, with hidden secrets and things to do. However, Nomura notes that with the increased detail added to each world chosen for Kingdom Hearts III, it means they had to prioritise that over adding more worlds than the other games (Editors note: there are currently 9 playable worlds confirmed for Kingdom Hearts III, with more to be announced prior to launch).
The Gummi Ship, which has been absent in all of the games since Kingdom Hearts II launched on the PlayStation 2 over 12 years ago, is back in Kingdom Hearts III. Nomura believes that the Gummi segments in Kingdom Hearts held a 'symbolic significance' whereas the Gummi segments in Kingdom Hearts II turned space travel into a fun side activity. This time around, the Gummi segments in Kingdom Hearts III have been envisioned as being the closest that Kingdom Hearts III will get to an RPG map, as it has been previously confirmed that there are two different segments to the Gummi Ship, 360 degree exploration and battle modes, as well as Gummi Ship customisation.
With the weight of high expectations from fans on Nomura's shoulders, he knows that the series will have to go above and beyond in order to satisfy fans, which includes pushing the original elements of the Kingdom Hearts narrative to the forefront of the game:
“The original stuff has grown and multiplied over the years, so there are more opportunities where the player has to be exposed to it,” the director elaborates. “The fans now have even higher expectations towards the original elements than before.”
We highly recommend reading the full interview with Tetsuya Nomura on VG247.
Kingdom Hearts III launches on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on January 25th 2019 in Japan, and on January 29th 2019 for the global audience. Remember to follow Kingdom Hearts Insider on Facebook and Twitter for the latest updates on Kingdom Hearts Union χ [Cross], Kingdom Hearts 3 and all things Kingdom Hearts!
